This application relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to systems that include telephony services.
The interrelation between computer systems and telephony services is not new. While telephones have been considered indispensable to businesses and consumers alike for some time, computer systems are only recently enjoying a status as an essential asset. Lower cost, increased availability to educational markets, and easier-to-use software may all have contributed to the widespread acceptance of computers for a variety of applications.
Certainly, the popularity of the Internet has influenced the proliferation of computer use. A computer connected to the Internet actually competes with old-fashioned telephone use, as many transactions that were traditionally handled on the phone may today be serviced by filling out a form on a web page. Further, particularly for long-distance communication, email may offer a more economical choice for keeping in touch than a telephone.
Despite the competition between telephones and computer systems, the technologies provide synergies that make combining them logical. Whether to make a telephone call or to log onto a network, a central office of the telephone system is typically invoked to transmit voice and/or data to the intended recipient, a person at a remote phone, or a user at a remote computer.
Computer systems may be connected to a network using coaxial cables or optical cables instead of using regular telephone lines. However, the old-fashioned telephone lines may be preferred, as phone system connections are typically found in most office and home environments, and may even be expected in hotels by the business traveler.
By simply loading a few software programs, a computer system with a modem, a speaker, and a microphone may send and receive phone calls or may operate as answering machines for a user.
However, the xe2x80x9ctelephony functionsxe2x80x9d of the computer system may not typically operate while the computer system is sending or receiving data using the modem. Likewise, the computer system may not typically download a web page while the phone is in use.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a computer system which supports network and telephony services and which allows simultaneous operation of these services.